It wasn’t the Arkansas Tech or the Razorback games, but there were plenty of colors representing the two teams and it was a tailgating extravaganza to rival any other at the 70th anniversary party honoring the friendship of Bob Griffin and Mike Roys held Saturday at Old Post Park.

The Griffin gals wore yellow shirts and the Griffin guys wore red shirts, while all of the Roys family wore blue shirts to alert visitors which side of the friendship celebration was represented.

Which color was most represented? It wasn’t a contest and the majority in attendance were friends and wore no specific color at all.

The party, the third held by the friends that started on the 50th anniversary of their friendshgip as a way to invite friends and family to get together to not only reminisce and share in the friendship, but to include a way for everyone to come together and have a good time. More than 150 friends and family members attended this year’s celebration Saturday, representing six states.

Why all the fuss?

“I don’t know of anyone else that celebrates their friendship anniversary like these two,” Mike’s son Micheal Roys said. “But then again, I don’t know of very many other people who have been friends for 70 years.”

Roys and Griffin are more than just friends, the two share a unique bond that has carried them through many ups, downs and everything in between during the past 70 years.

The two met in 1942 in first grade at Central Ward in Russellville.

No one is quite sure what initially attracted the two as friends, but rumor has it they met in detention. That rumor was playfully started by Griffin himself.

“I think it was just our sense of humor,” Griffin said. “It sounds better to say we met in detention though. I like to tell people that.”

For anyone who knows the two, or even if you just meet them for the first time, it’s easy to see how they might have wound up in detention together.

For whatever reason, the two became inseparable at a young age and that friendship lasted through junior and senior high school and into college.

They were roommates at Arkansas Tech University until Roys transfered to Oklahoma State University (something Griffin still pokes fun of him for), but Griffin said there was just one semester they were separated.Apparently, Roys and Griffin really were the life of the party and one particular resident advisor split the two up in hopes of quieting the dorm.

“We were back together the following semester,” Griffin said. “I think it was probably still just as loud, everybody still hung out together in the same room.”

Everyone who knew Griffin or Roys around that time had a story to share, most very funny and some not suitable for print. The celebration of their friendship is a way for everyone to come together, share stories, eat and have fun.

Not content with just being friends, the two decided to married first cousins.

Griffin and his wife Linda were dating, (she was a sophomore in high school and he was a senior) when her mother told her she needed to find a date for her cousin, Janet, in order to date Griffin.

Who better to suggest than his buddy Roys?

Roys and his wife Janet were married in June of 1959 and Griffin and Linda were married in August that same year.

Not quite a double wedding, but the groom, wife, best man and maid of honor were the same, just swapped around for each wedding.

What’s the secret to their friendship?

“Laughter,” Roys said. “We make each other laugh. After all these years, being married to first cousins, raising our children together and attending the same church, I can honestly say Bob is my best friend.”

Roys said the celebration Saturday was especially significant because it was the first since they began holding an anniversary party that all of the children were able to attend.

The Roys’ two sons and the Griffin’s three sons grew up with extended family in “Uncle Mike” and “Uncle Bob.”Their children like to tease the two about their friendship, hence the special anniversary cake that looked more like the cake of a married couple, but it was all in good fun.

“It’s awesome to get everyone together,” son David Griffin said. “I’ve never seen anyone else have such a close friendship. We all love Uncle Mike.”

Griffin and Roys said they and their families have each been blessed by their long-lasting friendship.

“We laugh at ourselves and say, you’ll always be my best friend, you know too much,” Griffin said laughing. “We’ve shared the good times and the bad with one another. Just looking around today at all the wonderful friends that came to celebrate with us, lets me know that I’m truly blessed.”

Roys said that although the two friends do like to laugh and have a good time, it always obvious to everyone that their friendship has brought a lot of love to the lives of others.

“At the last celebration, someone commented that they didn’t know Bob or myself, but that they could sure feel the love at the get-together,” Roys said. “And that’s really what it’s all about. Friends, family, fun and love — we’ve got all that represented right here today.”